A compound containing a phenolic hydroxy group is not only used for an adhesive, a molding material, a coating material, a photoresist material, an epoxy resin raw material, or a curing agent for epoxy resin, but is also widely used in the electric and/or electronic field such as a semiconductor sealing material or an insulating material for printed circuit board, as a curable resin composition using the compound containing a phenolic hydroxy group itself as a main agent or as a curing agent for an epoxy resin or the like, since a cured product thereof has excellent heat resistance and moisture resistance.
Among the above, in the field of photoresist, various properties such as alkali solubility, optical sensitivity, and resolution are required in addition to heat resistance. In addition, in a multilayer resist method which has been developed recently as a method for forming a finer wiring pattern, after one or a plurality of layers, which is referred to as a resist underlayer coating or an anti-reflection coating, is formed on a substrate, a resist pattern is formed on the substrate by ordinary photolithography, and then a wiring pattern is transcribed on the substrate by dry etching. One of the important members in the technology of the multilayer resist method is the resist underlayer coating, and as for the underlayer coating, the following characteristics are required: dry etching resistance is high; line edge roughness (LER) of a resist pattern is low; light reflectivity is low; and thermal decomposition resistance is high. In addition, since the resist underlayer coating is prepared in a state of being diluted in a solvent, it is required that a resin material for a resist underlayer coating can be dissolved in general organic solvents, and further, it is required that a resin composition for a resist underlayer coating can be dissolved in an alkali developing solution before curing and can be removed at the same time when a photoresist is developed, depending on an aspect of forming a resist pattern.
As a compound containing a phenolic hydroxy group having excellent heat resistance, a dihydroxynaphthalene type novolac resin (refer to PTL 1), or a compound containing a phenolic hydroxy group having a cylindrical structure which is referred to as a calixarene structure (refer to PTL 2) is known, and as a compound containing a phenolic hydroxy group for a resist underlayer coating, a compound containing a fluorene skeleton having a molecular structure represented by Structural Formula below (refer to PTL 3) is known.

Among the above, the dihydroxynaphthalene type novolac resin disclosed in PTL 1 has excellent heat resistance among general phenol novolac resins, but does not satisfy the level required for heat resistance, which has increased more and more recently, and in a case where the resin is used for a resist, sensitivity or resolution is degraded. Meanwhile, the 1-naphthol type calix(4)arene compound disclosed in PTL 2 does not have sufficient solubility in general organic solvents, and it is difficult to apply the compound to an adhesive, a coating material, a photoresist, and a printed circuit board. In addition, the compound containing a fluorene skeleton disclosed in PTL 3 has excellent solubility in general organic solvents, and exhibits low light reflectivity in terms of a cured coating. However, the compound does not satisfy the recent level required for dry etching resistance and thermal decomposition resistance. Thus, a development of the phenolic compound for a resist underlayer coating having higher dry etching resistance and thermal decomposition resistance is required.